#Substack Mastery

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

🎉 Celebrate Your Substack, No Matter the Size!

📢 CONGRATULATIONS on starting your Substack! Whether you have one subscriber or a thousand, every step forward is worth celebrating. 🎊 👇 Drop your Substack link below I will personally check out every single one of them and curators of my publications to amplify them because I believe in the power of connection and community. 🤝 🌟 What’s in it for you? I might discover gems that align with my…

[1introvertedsage]

▪️Family▪️

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

~Mary Oliver~

[magdalene-spirit]

Empress/Enchantress & Siddhi- the Natural Magic of Consciousness part 1 of 2

To read our life-story we must feel into the underlying meanings of things. Consciousness speaks through the appearing story-line.

Consciousness also speaks in multiple directions at once, multidimensionally across time/space.

A single cause put into motion, can play out anywhere in any way as multiple consequences, yet the consequences, seemingly scattered are energetically linked to the original cause or event.

Like the tarot layout, the links between symbols/ appearances are energetically/geometrically complex & of a higher dimensional order.

If our intuitive-logic & felt-perception grows through disciplined application of the mind (Sanskrit: Sadhana) we develop the concomitant Siddhi (achievement, mastery, success, magical ability etc.).

We can divine & interpret circumstances without the need for the physical intermediary or instrument. Eventually the magician can throw out his cards & tools, he/she has internalised them as natural capacities of Consciousness.

From the innocent bliss of the fool at 0, we receive our instruments for our journey of individuation, that begins at tarot card I, the magician- our initiation.

WE ARE ASKED, IN SOME WAY, THROUGH OUR LIFE STORY: WILL YOU TAKE IT?

The wand/staff/sword/key is offered to us by & unseen hand (by the Goddess or emissary) - & at appropriate moments our other tools will come into view.

When we have integrated our given tool & mastered it through applied discipline within us it becomes Siddhi- the natural magic of Consciousness, awakened at the head & crown— we become the oracle, priestess, wise woman, enchantress, the sorceress, the witch, the knower, the seer, the visionary- in other words— The Empress.

Kundalini has coiled itself around the staff, clearing us out of shadow & energising latent capacities as she ascends.

When the vibrational-signature is cognised in frontal awareness, feeling vibration unites in understanding & insight resulting in conscious Self-realisation.

I know the reality-existence of my own feeling-vibration, I know my own signature.

Continued next post & section III of Essay on Substack

[hyperculture]

Many conversations w many people as of late regarding learning and mastery and how that's entwined w self-confidence. Maybe I shall write a substack on the subject before I go off to school.

[jamesh2025smith]

If You Want to Be a Creator, Delete All (But Two) Social Media Platforms

In a world overflowing with content and distraction, one of the most radical acts a creator can commit is restraint. With new social platforms popping up regularly and algorithms evolving daily, creators face pressure to be everywhere at once: TikTok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Threads, and more. The temptation to build a presence on all platforms is strong, driven by the fear of missing out and the allure of going viral.

But here's the truth: being everywhere often leads to being effective nowhere. If you truly want to build something meaningful—whether it's a personal brand, a podcast, a YouTube channel, a writing career, or a business—you must reclaim your focus. That begins with a bold but powerful decision:

Delete all but two social media platforms.

The Productivity Trap of Social Media Social media platforms are engineered to capture your attention and keep you scrolling. What appears to be “work” often disguises itself as procrastination: browsing for “inspiration,” replying to DMs, posting a quick story, or jumping into trending hashtags. For creators, this constant engagement can feel productive, but it’s usually not.

Each additional platform you manage dilutes your creative energy. Every post, comment, or upload costs mental bandwidth—time you could use for actual creation. Juggling five platforms at once might make you feel busy, but it rarely results in deep, sustained work. The result? Surface-level content and creator burnout.

The Myth of Omnipresence A popular narrative in creator culture is that omnipresence builds success. While there's some truth to being discoverable, most creators confuse visibility with impact. Virality doesn’t necessarily translate into a loyal audience. Being “seen” isn’t the same as being remembered—or trusted.

The reality is that most of your audience doesn't follow you on every platform. They’ll likely engage with you most on one or two channels. That’s where the real relationship begins. Rather than being thinly spread across seven platforms, imagine going all-in on two. The content gets better. The engagement gets deeper. The brand gets stronger.

Choosing Your Two Platforms So, which two platforms should you keep? The answer depends on your goals, your audience, and your strengths. Here’s a simple framework to help guide your decision:

The Primary Platform: Long-form, Evergreen Content

Choose one platform where your content can live long-term and build compounding value. This is your main creative output.

Examples:

YouTube (video creators)

A personal blog or Substack (writers)

Podcast platforms (audio creators)

LinkedIn (thought leadership for professionals)

The Secondary Platform: Discovery & Community

Choose a platform where your audience already hangs out, and where content spreads quickly. Use this for connection, distribution, and engagement.

Examples:

Instagram or TikTok (visual storytellers)

Twitter/X (writers, thinkers, news-focused creators)

Facebook Groups or Discord (community building)

Reddit (niche content and discussions)

The primary platform is where your core content lives. The secondary platform is the amplifier, helping you reach new people and engage existing fans.

Benefits of Fewer Platforms

Deeper Work When you're not constantly checking multiple apps, you gain back hours of time and space for uninterrupted creation. Deep work leads to better output—higher quality videos, more thoughtful articles, more meaningful products.

Consistency and Mastery Mastering one or two platforms allows you to post consistently and learn what works. You'll understand your analytics, adapt your strategy, and create a recognizable style. Spreading across many platforms makes this kind of learning nearly impossible.

Stronger Brand Identity Your brand thrives on clarity. A scattered online presence leads to a confused audience. Focusing on two platforms helps reinforce your voice and message consistently, building recognition and trust.

Improved Mental Health Constant social media use leads to comparison, distraction, and stress. Reducing your digital footprint helps reclaim peace of mind and reduces anxiety. Less screen time equals more creative flow.

Real Creators Focus Take a look at many successful creators—they’re not on every platform all the time. They usually dominate on one or two and either ignore the rest or delegate. Think of:

MrBeast: Built his empire on YouTube.

Ali Abdaal: Focused on YouTube and a newsletter.

Seth Godin: Writes daily on his blog, distributes via email.

MKBHD: YouTube and X, with minor presence elsewhere.

These creators didn’t dilute their efforts. They focused. And they scaled only after establishing a strong foundation.

How to Let Go Deleting platforms can feel scary. What if you miss a trend? Lose followers? Fall behind?

Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Audit Your Usage

Look at where you’re currently active and what results each platform delivers. Which ones drain your time vs. drive meaningful engagement or conversions?

Choose Your Two

Based on your goals and audience, pick the platform where you create best, and the one where your audience lives.

Announce the Shift

Let your audience know where they can continue to connect with you. This builds trust and eases the transition.

Delete or Disable

You don’t have to nuke everything—but log out, delete the apps, and stop posting on the rest. Use scheduling tools or email autoresponders to redirect traffic.

Go All In

With fewer distractions, you can now go deep. Create better content. Build real community. Grow something sustainable.

The Path to Creative Freedom Social media is a tool, not a home. Creators who treat it as the main destination lose their focus—and often their freedom. By stripping back to the essentials, you give yourself permission to create, not just perform.

So, if you’re serious about being a creator—delete all but two platforms. Focus. Go deep. Make something that lasts.

In the end, creativity thrives not in abundance, but in constraint. Less noise. More voice.

Let me know if you'd like this formatted for a blog, newsletter, or social media post!

[grandhotelabyss]

Do you ever fear that you are limited by your lack of mastery of other languages when exploring the vast world of literature, as if a diver who can only see through a tiny hole in his metal helmet

I answered this one in my weekly Substack post today—please find it here.

[philologikal]

On Autism; or, Why I Should Have Been an English Major

[This essay was originally published on my Substack in October of last year.]

I love poetry. I don’t necessarily mind whether a poem sounds good, but what I love about it is how poets have shown stunning mastery in the art of paying attention. The poet holds a matter close to their eyes, turning it around and around until every detail is revealed to them. If that were not impressive enough, the poet also masters the art of communicating what they’ve learned to the rest of us—I don’t think it’s an accident that prophecy is the largest source of poetry in the Bible. That communication demands the poet’s full attention, from their choice of words, how many syllables they apportion to each line, even occasionally how the stanzas sit upon the page to commend themselves to our eyes in just the right way. In short, I most respect poets as masters of attention.

***

The average lifespan of an autistic person is 36 years. The unluckiest of us might be killed by parents or caretakers fed up with it all. Those of us lucky enough to get past that may still, for any number of reasons, take that matter into our own hands. Even among those of us who live to this day, I am yet to find another autistic person and grow close to them without discovering that they, too, considered it seriously at some point. It seems like everybody near to autism reckons with the notion that being autistic is as good as being dead.

Where does that notion come from, and why do so many people, even autistic people, find it so convincing? It isn’t very far away from any of us. The idea of autistic inhumanity lies in wait within our language and thinking of autism as pathological, as a disease. People “suffer” from autism, which is marked by “symptoms” comprising their “inability” to meet developmental milestones or to refrain from behaviors deemed unseemly according to our standards of what is typical. Well-meaning doctors advise well-meaning parents to take their child to a certain kind of corrective therapy, which, in reality, attempts to traumatize the atypicality out of them.

Treating autism as a disease is one thing while one thinks it can be cured. Deadly trouble arises when one figures it out as an inextricable part of their identity: then, the autistic person is seen as not a person at all.

Autistic people can be celebrated despite all this, but only in very specific circumstances. The “model” autistic person is a STEM savant, far exceeding their neurotypical peers in mathematical or scientific acumen so that the few quirks they struggle to suppress are forgiven, far outweighed by their utility to our common cause of scientific progress. Dr. Temple Grandin, through no fault of her own, is hoisted up as the face of respectable autism, because she can fit this mold relatively well. Comparatively, that’s not a bad deal: most “model” autistic people are only fictional characters created by neurotypical writers (think Rain Man or, more recently, The Good Doctor). We are human only insofar as we channel in some exceptional way the ideal Scientific Man; every other aspect of our complex personhood can either be ignored or acknowledged as the great hurdles that we overcome to become useful.

These acknowledgments and criticisms are analyses of language and diction or close readings of narratives; in other words, they are the fruits of methodologies one would learn in any good university English program. They are the fruits of poetic attention, which, ostensibly, autistic people aren’t supposed to have, being so singly designed for STEM.

***

Before college, I wanted to be an engineer. I was great at math and especially good at chemistry, so I thought that these were the things I had to do. I was occasionally fascinated by other subjects, but they never stuck as career aspirations. As far as I knew, I simply wasn’t built for them.

High school is a difficult time for most people. It is a time of often awkward character growth and a growing sense of independence. Being autistic, I grew more awkwardly than most. As independence dawned upon me, even in the tiniest flecks of light, the only thing it illuminated in me was a profound sense of undeserving incompetence. When I reached out to peers beyond shallow niceties I could never follow through, or when I tried, I often harmed them.

The trope that autistic people don’t care about other people’s feelings is very false; I cared very deeply about them, at times more deeply than was helpful. That care manifested in feeling a duty to defend others from myself. At some point, I resolved never to have biological children—I not only embraced the pathological narrative of autism, but a firmly eugenical one, which I hasten to add is never far away from the pathological. When enough tragedy, mistakes, and resentment entered my life, the eugenical turned suicidal. That my body did not resign itself to being found washed up dead on a beach in the Outer Banks is a mystery I do not, probably cannot understand.

What I do know is that it occasioned a dramatic shift in priorities. The experience of hanging over death, held up only by an ineffable, alien power and resolve, prompted surprising forays into spirituality, which culminated into my faith in—or really, my rapport with—Jesus Christ, the Commiserative God. I abandoned STEM altogether because I realized that no matter how good at math I may be, it mattered that I really disliked it. I, therefore, applied to and attended a liberal arts school instead. I took classes I liked, made friends, fell in love, and imagined all to be well.

None of that changed the fact that I am autistic. I still stumbled and all too often brought harm and damage with me when I fell. I let friends down, exhausted the ones I loved, and of course, did myself no favors. I had decided to ignore my autism—it was still a disease in my mind, but perhaps a tolerable one—but it made itself known, if not always to me then to others.

I majored in religious studies and loved it. I wouldn’t change that now, and in fact, I would change none of the things in this story. But what if, instead, I majored in English? What if I had learned about the art of poetic attention or to close-read a classic novel, finding in all I read hints of the human condition? What if I practiced articulating my most subtle thoughts between the lines of artful prose, rather than simply recording my matter-of-fact observations of things?

If nothing else, it would have saved me the time of trying to learn all that now.

***

William Blake thought that all people shared a universal Poetic Genius, which he identifies as God. The neat thing about Christianity is that we believe the whole universe is manifest in the nit and pick, dirt and grime, and every jot and tittle of the human life of Jesus Christ. Poetic Genius is universal, but it is what it is only in its perfect attention to the smallest, most particular particle of detail. Every one of us participates in it, not through the airy world of abstractions and spirits but in our most concrete particularity, our most unique selves.

The trick, then, is to understand autistic people as part of that universal humanity and artistry: not just the most palatable parts of us, but all of us whole and entire. Jesus said to do unto others what you would they do unto you. He made no exception concerning autistic people, yet we act as if he did. As a society, we need to value listening to autistic people, not just their families or the few we find respectable.

Of course, to be heard, autistic people must understand and speak. We are among the people who need to learn that we can listen to us. We are no more mere STEM tools than any other person. All of us (including those of us in STEM!) must take hold of the Poetic Genius, which is ours by right, which has always been ours. We must cultivate our own poetic attention, which is as unique as we each are. Out of that awareness, we can tell the world that we have gifts to give them, indeed, that we have been given to them and they to us by God. We can know in our inmost hearts that we have been given to ourselves, autism and all.

I am, so to speak, the “chief of sinners” in respect to this awareness. I thank God for those who have come before me and spoken. I pray that I, too, may be given the strength to do the same; I have much to learn.

I am autistic. Though I didn’t major in English, I love poetry. And there’s nothing odd about that at all. It could save somebody’s life.

Appendix: Autism, Sex, and Race

There are a few extra things I feel must be said about autism and neurodiversity as it intersects with other markers of identity.

When I was a child, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. As far as the DSM is concerned, such a thing hasn’t existed since 2013. It is now part of a big-tent diagnosis called Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. The language of “disorder” may still be unfortunate for reasons explained above, though I am willing to concede that autism poses challenges that warrant solidarity with disability movements. In any case, this change of classification signals an important shift in our understanding and observation of autism in some key ways.

Many people see autism as a disorder for young white boys. There have always been exceptions, but recently we have figured out that they aren’t as exceptional as we thought. We are becoming more aware of how autism manifests in women and the general disparities whiteness imposes on medical care. But when it comes to autism, I have a hunch that these advances will only be incidental until we disabuse ourselves of the autism-as-pathology mindset, with which whiteness and patriarchy are inextricably linked.

That claim might seem bizarre, but bear with me.

When we feel we have detected some deficiency in a child, we do so by seeing them in contrast to a standard or expectation we hold to. If we think the Ideal Human is white and male (as is so often the case, even implicitly) then aberrant behavior in young girls or non-white children can be satisfactorily explained by the fact that they aren’t male or aren’t white. But when we encounter such behavior in white boys, we have to look elsewhere to figure out the problem. As it happens, the “problem” is sometimes autism. We see it in these boys because we feel a need to explain why they, who in demonic imagination are the ideal children, depart from that ideal. Girls and non-white children, under the conditions of whiteness and patriarchy, don’t stir such a necessity; in other words, we just don’t look.

An essential part of spreading poetic attention to autistic people is openness to learning from every kind of autistic person—especially if their existence challenges our inner narrative about what autism is for us. I wager that autistic people can likely identify traits of autism in the overlooked better than a neurotypical person can. At the very least, speaking what we know to be our realities might help neurotypical people identify it in its variations elsewhere. But in every case, whether we are neurotypical or autistic, we must dispense with our biases, because we all have something to learn about autism.

[sevenseptember]

Sevenseptember's guidance

Hi!

I am Nensi-the creative, mystic, and consciousness guide. I am here to help you achieve emotional and energy mastery and to assist you in finding your joy and purpose. I work with astrology, human design, and numerology. My work is trauma-informed, but it is no replacement for therapy.

My IG: mercurypriestess TikTok:mercurypriestess

Here you can find my readings and sessions offerings and my Emotions Oracle cards 🌿

Substack Writings- Sharing insights, patterns and experiences that are intended to make you curious and aware. I will talk about human design, astrology and numerology :) Eventually this will completely replace the newsletter.

Flow Sessions- If you need guidance around the topics of using your energy, understanding your patterns, aligning with your purpose (we can figure next steps together). I am currently offering Flow sessions. They are 75 minutes long happening via Zoom/Google Meets. If you are interested you can reach out to me by mail: mercurypriestess@gmail.com and I will send you link to schedule your session.

I usually have more flexibility and even can work on short notice- same day sessions so just email me. I am in Europe, and mostly available in the evening.

Price for 75 minutes- 190 eur

Soul Lessons and Purpose

If you want to understand what your soul intended to do and learn in this lifetime- this is a reading for you. If you want to understand your challenges, delays and blessings and how they are connected with your soul purpose and lessons- this is a reading for you. Everything has a purpose in your life. If you have specific challenges that you would like insight on please share your experiences and (timing if you know and I will check the transits as well.)

To book please email at: mercurypriestess@gmail.com with your birth information and I will confirm payment information. Example: 5th February 1992., London, United Kingdom

          6:28h

Price: 200 EUR 

Human Design Breakthrough Reading (introduction to human design) it includes:

learn how to live in alignment

how you are designed to make decisions

how to navigate work and relationships

how to best approach new opportunities

Cost: 220 EUR

Check the availability - https://calendly.com/mercurypriestess 

Tarot and Oracle Reading Deep dive 75€

One situation reading. You can ask 2-3 questions that pertain to situation that you have in mind. You will receive needed insights to move forward on your path with clarity and power. This is 30 minutes video recorded reading.

Donation-based sessions- 70€/h- minimum donation

If you would like a donation based session you can request one by sending an email :)

Emotions Oracle Cards- Oracle cards created to help you recognise, understand and heal your emotions.

Donations- via paypal All donations support my work :)

To book a reading/session: email me at mercurypriestess@gmail.com or send dm here  Note: All my prices are in Euros.

Rest of my services can be found here :)

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

What Merging of Fable & Everand Mean to Indie Authors

Early reflection and perspectives from an indie author on how this strategic merger empowers book authors to reach engaged, censorship-free audiences across borders. Publishing Case Study #137 Are you a book author looking to reach a broader audience through a proven system supported by a like-minded community? Are you an aspiring writer who wants to publish your first book within 3 months with…

[edisonblog]

ANDREA DEL SARTO - Italian painter from Florence.

image: These drawings are among the most expressive of the artist's mature period. Two Male Head Studies, Frontal View. Red chalk on beige paper 1521 - Louvre Museum

Andrea del Sarto, defined by Vasari as the “painter without errors”. This Florentine painter's real name was Andrea d' Agnolo di Francesco Lanfranchi and the nickname "del Sarto".

He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces, portraitist, draughtsman and colorist and for his mastery of technique and his ability to capture the human form with great accuracy and emotion.

They are an excellent example of a "composite study", in which the central figure is surrounded by details reworked on a larger scale, and to a higher degree of finish, more closely resembling the final painting.

The studies' idealized, eloquent style, characterized by the turbulent interplay of contours and shadows, is typical of Del Sarto's style in the 1520s.

The masterfully-rendered, lively graphic style was a personal trademark, confirming Del Sarto as one of the West's greatest artists, on a par with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

#edisonmariotti by #mauriciostefanowskyfineartist  @edisonblog

edison’s Substack

.br ANDREA DEL SARTO - foi um pintor italiano de Florença.

imagem: Esses desenhos estão entre os mais expressivos da fase madura do artista. Dois Estudos de Cabeça Masculina, Vista Frontal. Giz vermelho sobre papel bege 1521 - Museu do Louvre

Andrea del Sarto, definido por Vasari como o “pintor sem erros”. O verdadeiro nome deste pintor florentino era Andrea d' Agnolo di Francesco Lanfranchi e a alcunha "del Sarto".

Ele era conhecido como um excelente decorador de afrescos, pintor de retábulos, retratista, desenhista e colorista e por seu domínio da técnica e sua capacidade de capturar a forma humana com grande precisão e emoção.

São um excelente exemplo de "estudo composto", em que a figura central é cercada por detalhes retrabalhados em maior escala e com maior grau de acabamento, aproximando-se mais da pintura final.

O estilo idealizado e eloquente dos estudos, caracterizado pela interação turbulenta de contornos e sombras, é típico do estilo de Del Sarto na década de 1520.

O estilo gráfico vivo e magistralmente executado era uma marca pessoal, confirmando Del Sarto como um dos maiores artistas do Ocidente, a par de Leonardo da Vinci e Michelangelo.

[sacredbodiesca]

ALWAYS THE RIGHT TIME—Apprenticeship to Love: Daily Meditation, Inspirations, and Practices for the Sacred Masculine, August 26 • This is the Yoga for the Sacred Masculine: to cultivate the depth and stillness that penetrates this moment and, holding this infinite moment, enjoys the beauty and the richness and the love that blossoms. I am this man, ravishing my beloved and my world into the fullness of Her flow. I have no needs. … (for the full #apprenticeshiptolove experience please see the uncensored chapter, published later today on Substack. For a complimentary subscription please email me at hans@sacredbodies.ca) ✨ ✨ #pathofthesacredmasculine #husbandman #authenticrelationships #love #nervoussystem #devotion #surrender #choosevulnerability #youarebeautiful #nervoussystemtraining #presence #mastery #time #masteroftimeandspace https://www.instagram.com/p/ChuEXIuLW6b/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[xtruss]

Why We Are Still Living in Ronald Reagan's America

— By H.W. Brands | Newsweek | July 28, 2021

Ronald Reagan liked to tell stories. As president he told one to a convention of Protestant ministers, about a preacher and a politician who died on the same day and were greeted by St. Peter at the gates of heaven. Peter explained heaven's rules and escorted the newcomers to the homes they would occupy for all eternity. The preacher's proved to be a single room with a bed, table and chair. The politician's was a huge mansion with handsome furnishings. The politician was grateful but puzzled. "How do I deserve this grand place while that good man of the cloth has to live in a single room?" he asked. Peter replied, "Here in heaven we have plenty of preachers. You're the first politician to get in.”

It was Ronald Reagan's catchphrase first: Let's Make America Great Again. Michael Evans/The White House/Getty

The humor was vintage Reagan, not side-splitting but good for a chuckle. It flattered his listeners while deprecating himself, the only politician in the room. It caused people to think he was a friendly fellow, one they could get along with. People liked Reagan, even when they didn't like his policies.

Humor and amiability weren't the only reasons Reagan was the most successful president of the last half-century, in terms of putting his ideas into practice. His good timing helped, too. Reagan became president in 1981, when Americans had grown weary of a government that had been expanding incessantly since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal of the 1930s. Reagan announced, in his first inaugural address, that "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem," and his words summarized what millions of Americans were thinking. They applauded his tax cuts and efforts at deregulation, and they reelected him overwhelmingly in 1984.

Reagan writing his 1981 inaugural speech at his home in California. Dirck Halstead/Getty

Reagan's timing was right in another sense, as well. Until the 1960s, the Republican and Democratic parties had each been a coalition of conservatives and liberals. Liberal Rockefeller Republicans coexisted with conservative Goldwater Republicans; conservative Southern Democrats shared their party with big-city liberals. Things changed when Lyndon Johnson made civil rights a Democratic cause; those conservative Southerners began to leave the party for the Republicans. As they arrived, they pushed out the liberal Republicans, who found their way to the Democrats. The process took a full generation, culminating in the 1990s, after which liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats were essentially nonexistent.

LBJ’s civil rights initiatives led conservatives to flee to the GOP, which helped Reagan win election. Photo12/Universal Images Group/Getty

Reagan became president midway in the transformation. This was crucial to the success of his administration. Reagan was a conservative but a pragmatic one. James Baker, Reagan's chief of staff and then-Treasury secretary, recalled, "If Reagan told me once, he told me fifteen thousand times, 'I'd rather get 80 percent of what I want than go over the cliff with my flags flying.'"

Reagan believed that the purpose of getting elected was to govern, not to score political points. He met regularly with Tip O'Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House, and the two thrashed out com- promise after compromise: on taxes, on welfare, on Social Security, on immigration, on defense. Bolstered by defections from O'Neill's own party—conservative Democrats who hadn't completed their long march to the Republicans—Reagan usually got his 80 percent.

Timing helped in foreign policy, too. Reagan had been an ardent anticommunist from his days in Hollywood, when as head of the Screen Actors Guild he struggled to keep communists out of film-industry labor unions. He rejected the containment policy of his White House predecessors in favor of a strategy designed to win the Cold War. He built up America's defenses and threatened to take the arms race into outer space with the Strategic Defense Initiative. He dramatically stood at the Berlin Wall and challenged the Kremlin: "Tear down this wall!"

Reagan in Berlin, famously imploring the Kremlin, “Tear down this wall!”. Thierlein/Ullstein Bild/Getty

Yet Reagan's actions had scant effect until changes in the Soviet Union produced a reformist leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, willing to deal with the U.S. Reagan met with Gorbachev, developed a personal relationship, and proceeded to negotiate historic arms control agreements. The Cold War didn't end until after Reagan left office, and its peaceful conclusion required adept diplomacy by George H. W. Bush.

But Reagan rightly received much of the credit, for his adroit combination of threat and accommodation. Reagan left behind a different world than he had inherited. Some of the changes were positive; others were not. Reagan's critique of big government caught on until even Democrat Bill Clinton felt obligated to announce that "the era of big government is over." Deregulation facilitated dramatic changes in the economy, including democratization of air travel, globalization of production and supply chains, and the digital revolution that continues today.

Reagan toasting his partner in Cold War reform, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at a meeting in New York City. Corbis/Getty

Yet the post-Reagan economy favored the few a great deal more than the many, producing inequality not seen in America since the Gilded Age. Globalization aggravated the deindustrialization of America and made supply chains sensitive to unforeseen disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital revolution spawned corporate giants with unprecedented reach and influence.

Reagan was a decent and temperate man, who chose his words carefully. Those who came after him were not always so circumspect. Combative Republicans dropped the qualifying clause—"in this present crisis"—from Reagan's assertion that government was the problem, and mounted an unrelenting attack on Washington D.C., treating defenders of government programs as the enemy of the American people. Donald Trump rode the rhetoric of attack into office; in Trump's last days as president, the attack on government turned physically violent.

A crowd of supporters at a re-election campaign for President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush. Dirck Halstead/Getty

The Republican party of Donald Trump is not the Republican party of Ronald Reagan, but there is a recognizable lineage. Reagan was not a racist, but by invoking "states' rights" as justification for his conservative policies, he let Southerners who were racists know they'd find a home in the Republican party, where Trump has done little to make them feel unwelcome.

Republicans have been slow to criticize Trump, even when he has egregiously overstepped what many of those Republicans once considered the bounds of decency and presidential decorum. To some degree their reticence reflects the partisanship produced by the elimination of liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats. But it also follows the example of Reagan, who articulated what he called the Republican Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." (Trump himself flouted that rule.)

The Republican party of Donald Trump is not the Republican party of Ronald Reagan, the author says, but there is a recognizable lineage. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty

Trump took one page directly from the Reagan playbook. Reagan was called the "great communicator" for his mastery of the dominant medium of his day, television, which allowed him to speak directly to the American people without the filter of reporters and editors. Trump adapted the idea to the age of social media. His millions of Twitter followers got their daily dose of Trump undiluted, unchecked, and unrefuted—until the company pulled the plug on his account. In perhaps the most important respect, though, Reagan's core values were strikingly at odds with those common in his party— and often in America at large—today. Reagan lived through some of the most trying periods in American history: the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the turbulent Sixties, the unsettled Seventies. Yet he never lost his faith in the country's future. Reagan was the eternal optimist on everything essential about America.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years after he left the presidency. But still his faith held firm. "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life," he wrote in a farewell letter to the American people. "I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."

— H.W. Brands, a history professor at the University of Texas-Austin, is the author of Reagan: The Life and other books on American history. He writes "A User's Guide to History" at Substack.

[itunesbooks]

PAM Mastery - Michael W. Lucas

PAM Mastery Michael W. Lucas Genre: Operating Systems Price: $9.99 Publish Date: September 19, 2016 Publisher: Tilted Windmill Press Seller: Tilted Windmill Press LLC Pluggable Authentication Modules: Threat or Menace? PAM is one of the most misunderstood parts of systems administration. Many sysadmins live with authentication problems rather than risk making them worse. PAM’s very nature makes it unlike any other Unix access control system. If you have PAM misery or PAM mysteries, you need PAM Mastery! With PAM Mastery, you’ll understand: the different versions of PAM the intricacies of Linux-PAM and OpenPAM how PAM policies make decisions how to debug PAM the most frequently seen PAM modules Linux-PAM extended controls and substacks time-based one-time passwords using SSH keys for more than SSH password quality testing policies from CentOS, Debian, and FreeBSD and more! Transform PAM from a headache to an ally with PAM Mastery! http://bit.ly/2EIFYG1

[mehmetyildizmelbourne-blog]

Do You Need a Blogging Directory for Visibility?

An Aspiring and Inspiring Community Initiative Here’s Why I’m Creating a Blog Directory and How Bloggers Can Benefit from It. Invitation to submit your blogs to a new blog directory I will create and distribute in my network as a give-back activity to the writing community Dear Subscribers, If you are tired of blogging alone in the dark, I have a light to share. If blogging feels like…